What Our Churches are Saying

“Through Three Rivers, I’ve experienced relationships that I otherwise would probably never have experienced. And in talking to churches from Jefferson City all the way out past Farragut and exploring our differences, we have discovered how much we’re really the same.

Regardless of race, regardless of the communities we’re serving, we’re very similar. And I think following Jesus helps us to be able to recognize that the mission of the church is pretty much the same no matter where you are in whatever context you’re working in.”

“For churches like ours, for small churches who are looking to be reenergized and to have conversation partners in this Kingdom work, the fact that Three Rivers is available and generous with their time, that it’s free, it’s just such a gift.  We rarely get opportunities like that. And so, I’m really grateful to Three Rivers.”

Being a long-time pastor in a congregation, sometimes you become blind to new ways of doing things because you’re always doing the things that have worked and then maybe they don’t work quite so well.

Three Rivers has helped us peak our curiosity at a really significant time because we were in the middle coming out of COVID.  The old ways were not necessarily going to serve us well andwe needed to develop that sense of curiosity.

“The Three Rivers’ Experience has helped me and has helped our church thru the exposure and training for some of our Clergy and Lay Leaders at the One Day Retreats, and especially at the gatherings with all the other Three Rivers churches.  Our leaders receive the opportunity to see what I see and hear what I hear as well as participate as I participate; then we discuss and decide together visions and plans together.  We as leaders then go back to our church and participate in a similar method to continue the ownership and participation effort.”

I am pleased to support the vision and work of Three Rivers Collaborative.

Missional church movement, specifically with a focus on innovation, is the heartbeat behind my ministry and guides the work I pursue daily.

The process behind Movement Leaders Collective involves empowering churches to discover and transform their DNA to create authentic and transformative worship and missional engagement. It is that process that I bring as a facilitator to the Johnson team, to help guide churches through their own transformation of developing a missional mindset, to accomplish the work God has set before them.

The Church Partners of the Smokies (CPotS) is honored to partner with Three Rivers Collaborative. This initiative aligns well with the mission of CPotS, which “exists to be a catalyst for the mission of God by changing lives and communities through planting and serving churches.”

This partnership will increase the synergy that already exists between CPotS and Johnson University. Since its inception, the leadership of CPotS has included Johnson University personnel. I serve as the current president of the board of CPotS, and I serve as the Director of Preaching Ministries and Professor of Pastoral Ministries at Johnson University.

I want to express my enthusiastic support for the work of this new initiative of Johnson University—Three Rivers Collaborative.  I have worked with church planters throughout North America for the past 20 years. During that time, I have become convinced of the need for greater creativity within the church. In an increasing missionary context, the church must become an incubator for missiological and financial innovation. I believe Three Rivers Collaborative is in a unique position to provide the leadership for this endeavor.

As a hybrid Publisher, we leverage all the freedom and opportunity of the self-publishing world (maintain intellectual property, ability to print-on-demand, freedom for author/authors for derivative work) with all the quality and rigor of a publishing house process (readers council, layers of editing, high-caliber design and delivery).

The process behind 100M Publishing involves empowering authors or teams to discover and distill their ideas and learning into a framework and narrative that is accessible, engaging, and impactful in written form. It is our process that we bring to the Three Rivers team, to help guide churches and the team to catalogue and communicate their own transformational journey – and then to clarify, codify, and communicate this to a wider audience.